dining

Taco Bell announced today it would offer one free Doritos Locos taco to customers on Tuesday afternoon, June 21, as part of the restaurant chain’s “Steal a Game, Steal a Taco” NBA promotion.

The special offer will run from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday only. Taco Bell had announced prior to the NBA Finals that it would give away Doritos Locos tacos if a team won on its opponent’s home court in the NBA Finals — and that ended up happening not once, but three times, with the Golden State Warriors winning Game 4 in Cleveland, then the Cavaliers winning Games 5 and 7 on Golden State’s home court.

No purchase is necessary, according to the promotion’s terms and conditions, and as always, the offer will be good at participating Taco Bell locations. There is, of course, a limit of one free taco per customer.

For many people, including Anthony Bourdain, eating at the restaurant is a unique experience. But if you think you know everything about the restaurant chain, think again.

Even the most devoted WaHo patrons may be surprised with these unusual facts about the company.

1. In a year, Waffle House serves 25,000 miles of bacon. If you laid out all the Smithfield Bacon that Waffle House serves in one year end-to-end, it would wrap around the earth’s equator. That’s a lot of miles of greasy goodness.

2. Waffle House has its own music label. The yellow-roofed restaurant has been concocting its recipes since 1955, but it began creating its own music 30 years ago. If you scroll through any Waffle House jukebox, there’s 40 original Waffle House songs. Hard to believe? Well, listen to one of Waffle House’s hits entitled “There are Raisins in My Toast.” WaHo’s musical playlist doesn’t stop there. The franchise has also dipped its toes into the syrupy waters of Gospel music.

3. School buses inspired the restaurant’s color scheme. Co-founderJoeRogers Senior picked the colors yellow and black because it reminded him of a school bus. He thought it would increase the restaurant’s visibility to drivers. It’s a common misconception that the founders chose the colors because Joe was a graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology, whose official colors are yellow and black.

4. FEMA has a Waffle House Index. Waffle House takes its commitment to being open 24/7 seriously. If disaster strikes, the chain has its own disaster management plan, which includes buying portable food generators, ice and food in advance. One of the first places the Federal Emergency Management Agency turns to gauge a natural disaster’s severity is Waffle House --it’s called the Waffle House Index.

5. Waffle House has its own merchandise! You can purchase anything ranging from a WaHo hoodie to a vintage neon Waffle House clock on the restaurant’s website.

7. Waffle House has a unique call-in system. Have you ever noticed that colored tile on a Waffle House’s restaurant floor? Well, sale associates are instructed to stand on the colored tile when calling in an order. That way, the person working on the grill can easily hear the order.

8. The support team spends one day a year working in the restaurant. Although Waffle House’s support team isn’t involved in the day-to-day operations of the restaurant, team members -- who work in Waffle House's corporate offices -- spend one day of the year working inside the restaurant.

9. Waffle House is named after its most expensive menu item. Waffle House’s original menu had 16 items on it, and its most expensive menu item was the waffle. The founders named the restaurant after the waffle because they thought it would generate a big profit.

10. The restaurant’s founders still stop by to visit. The company’s founders, Tom Forkner and Joe Rogers Sr., are both in their late 90’s and are still involved with their brand. Tom visits the company’s headquarters three times a week. Joe, who is unable to drive, calls to check in on the company two or three times a month.

11. The menu items are named after real people. Bert’s Chili was named after an employee who served at the company for over 30 years. Alice’s iced tea was also named after an employee who helped perfect the restaurant’s signature iced tea.

12. The restaurant had a cash-only policy until 2006. Waffle House resisted using credit cards because management feared that it would interfere with its promised 20-minute turnaround time. Also, the chain had to update it system to take credit cards.

An owner of an Indian restaurant in North Yorkshire, England, was sentenced to six years in prison after he served a curry dish containing peanuts to a customer with an allergy, resulting in his death.

Mohammaed Zaman was sentenced Monday after being found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence among other food-safety offenses, The New York Times reported. The incident happened in January 2014 when Paul Wilson, 38, ordered chicken tikka masala from Zaman’s restaurant, Indian Garden, and specified he couldn’t have any nuts in his order.

Wilson had visited the restaurant previously and was given a container with "no nuts" written on top of it, the Times added.

He was found by a roommate dead after going into anaphylactic shock, prosecutors said.

According to authorities, Zaman cut corners by replacing almond powder in his recipes with a cheaper mix of groundnuts and hired undocumented workers to put together his curry dishes. There was an incident with another customer with a nut allergy three weeks before Wilson’s death.

"Time and again he ignored the danger and did not protect his customers," Richard Wright, told a jury at Teesside Crown Court, according to the Times.

Zaman had about $434,000 in debt, which led to his cutting corners, the Times reported. He also had a tendency to not be at the restaurant, allowing his employees to run the operations, and was not there when the curry was served to Wilson.

"Paul Wilson was in the prime of his life," Judge Simon Bourne-Arton told Zaman, according to the Yorkshire Post. "He, like you, worked in the catering trade. He, unlike you, was a careful man."